Paris

Jun 17, 2012 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

On April 5, 2005, Peter Jennings, the television anchor and ex-husband of author Kati Marton, asked her to meet him in Central Park. They had been married for fifteen years and had two grown children, Chris and Lizzie. "I have been diagnosed with lung cancer," he said. With this devastating news, so sure to impact their children, Kati and Peter found common ground. He died in August 2005 after only five months; he "fought like the devil, but he did not have a single good day."

In mid-2010, Kati h...more

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May 07, 2013 Pascale rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading Kati Morton's story of her life at a time of loss, and of love on her journey of life. I recommend first reading her book, Enemies Of The People: My Family's Journey to America. I've always admired Richard Holbrooke & quite liked Peter Jennings but did not know until recently that they've both been married to Kati Morton. Her book is well written & precise. The story of her family is inspiring of strength & resilience & love. I love Paris too & used to live...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Lewis Weinstein rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Kati Marton is as interesting a writer as she is a person, and this exceptionally frank and revealing memoir captures both aspects of her being. She begins with the last days of Richard Holbrooke, then traces through the highs and lows of her two marriages, to Holbrooke and, before that, to Peter Jennings. This is a woman who was married to two exceptional men, who had a brilliant journalistic career of her own, and who has become an exceptional writer, beginning with her poignant and dramatic b...more

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May 06, 2013 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

PARIS :A LOVE STORY
By Kati Marton

Kati Marton is one of those people who has had an extraordinary life, and
fully realizes it. This book is a salute to the opportunities her life
presented, and the path she trod, the beautiful, the good, and the
not-so-great. She begins the book with the death of her second husband, Richard Holbrook. Their life together is told as a near-perfect love story, but
then she goes back to her early years so we can understand that her life
was no easier or better than most a...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Ginny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the very candid and intimate memoir of award-winning former NPR and ABC correspondent and best-selling author Kati Marton. Recently widowed from her second husband, diplomat Richard Holbrooke, she reflects on her fascinating life and adventures with him and also with her first husband and father of her children, Peter Jennings. Being married to two high profile men and being very accomplished in her own right, Marton has had a front row seat for much history making. She knows everybody a...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Kimberly Shadwick rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book so I gave it a fair rating.
The book is very well written. Kati Marton is a famous journalist who knows how to write.
I was expecting a wonderful book about Paris & a love letter to her deceased husband. That wasn't what I found.
I saw Ms. Marton interviewed on a few television shows about this book. She described it as a love letter to her deceased husband and Paris. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review this book.
I settled down in my quiet be...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bio-memoir

I picked up Paris A Love Story from the library shelves because I will pick up any book that has Paris in the title. I quickly learned who author Kati Marton is simply because she was married to two very well-known men of this generation - news anchor Peter Jennings and American diplomat and ambassador Richard Holbrooke. Her memoir revolves around her relationships with both of these men, and life in Paris is woven throughout. Born in Hungary, fleeing with her family to the United States followi...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Ritu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

The book started slowly and it was initially disjointed but gradually picked up pace. book is strewn with famous people's names all the people Kati and her husbands came in contact with during their careers. The The latter part of the book was very good. She begins the book with the death of her husband Mr. Richard Holbrook and then takes her listeners (I listened to the audiobook) through the important phases in her life. Kati remembers her childhood in Budapest when her sister and she are sepa...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Kati Marton takes us back to Paris in her memoir. Married to news anchor Peter Jennings and then to US ambassador Richard Holbrooke...her journey with these two men evolved in Paris.
What was so close to my heart were Marton's descriptions of the same places I spent so much time myself. The Rue des Ecoles...where she had a tiny apartment and I stayed frequently at the Hotel California. Walks to Rue Monge, Luxembourg Gardens (one of my favorite places to relax and sit to watch the world go by), d...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Kristine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-or-biography

My reaction is mixed to this book that's described as a memoir, raising unfortunate expectations in me as a reader that might be better fulfilled by her PREVIOUS memoir: ENEMIES OF THE STATE (though til I read that, I cannot know whether my suspicions will prove true or not, or whether I would then read this book differently.)

This book seems to have been written relatively soon after Kati Marton's beloved husband Richard Holbrooke died suddenly; consequently, the author seems influenced, I th...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Riv rated it 4 of 5 stars

I guess I'm more sentimental than I let on. Kati Marton spills her guts about life with the two men of her life, Peter Jennings (whom she divorced) and Richard Holbrooke (who died suddenly after 17 years of marriage). I don't know if she's written an autobiography of her professional career and the rest of her life, but this book centers on her emotional life, primarily with Holbrooke, and Jennings, as it leads up to her second relationship and marriage. But boy, were they in love! Oh, and Paris...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Nan G. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-about-paris

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The title, the jacket blurbs, even the cover photo led me to believe it was just the book to read right now. Sadly, after struggling through the first half, I had to force myself to finish just to make sure I had not missed the point somehow. Yes, Marton is a lovely and accomplished writer- her descriptions are often lyrical and her love for Paris, her children and both Peter Jennings & Richard Holbrooke is often palpable. She has led an amazingly bl...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoirs

Story Description:

Simon & Schuster|August 14, 2012|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-1-4516-9154-2

This is a memoir for anyone who has ever fallen in love in Paris, or with Paris. PARIS: A LOVE STORY is for anyone who has ever had their heart broken or their life upended.

In this remarkably honest and candid memoir, award-winning and distinguished author Kati Marton narrates an impassioned and romantic story of love, loss, and life after loss. Paris is at the heart of this deeply moving account. At every st...more Story Description:

Simon & Schuster|August 14, 2012|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-1-4516-9154-2

This is a memoir for anyone who has ever fallen in love in Paris, or with Paris. PARIS: A LOVE STORY is for anyone who has ever had their heart broken or their life upended.

In this remarkably honest and candid memoir, award-winning and distinguished author Kati Marton narrates an impassioned and romantic story of love, loss, and life after loss. Paris is at the heart of this deeply moving account. At every stage of her life, Marton finds beauty and excitement in Paris, and now, after the sudden death of her husband, Richard Holbrooke, the city offers a chance for a fresh beginning. With intimate and nuanced portraits of Peter Jennings, the man to whom she was married for fifteen years and with whom she had two children, and Holbrooke, with whom she found enduring love, Marton paints a vivid account of an adventuresome life in the stream of history. Inspirational and deeply human, Paris: A Love Story will touch every generation.

My Review:

Paris: A Love Story is an unbelievably candid, open, honest memoir with no holds barred. Kati Marton and her husband, Richard Holbrooke were deeply in love. Kati had previously been married to news anchor Peter Jennings for fifteen years with whom she had two children – Lizzie and Chris.

Richard died from a dissected aorta but following twenty-one hours of surgery his life could not be saved. Kati was totally grief stricken in every sense of the word. Her friends, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and her children from her previous marriage to Peter Jennings rallied around her. Richard also had two children from a previous relationship – David and Anthony.

Paris was their home, their life, and their love. Paris represented to them everything in life that one holds dear.

However, the book had more of an “all about me” ring to it and “who I know that is famous”. I felt at times as though Marton had flipped through her datebook looking for things to write. Although I did enjoy the book very much, and it truly was a love story as far as Kati and Richard went, a more appropriate title might have been: Paris: A Story About Me & Who I Know.

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Dec 19, 2012 Nancy Brisson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton is a very lovely little memoir by a lady who lived a very significant life and fell in love with Paris almost immediately. Paris weaves like a ribbon through the story of her life. Katika Marton, known as Kati was born in Hungary before World War II. Her parents were each arrested at different times by the Nazi’s and finally were forced to flee their beloved Budapest with Kati. They fled to Paris and then to America. Years later Kati learns about her family’s J...more Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton is a very lovely little memoir by a lady who lived a very significant life and fell in love with Paris almost immediately. Paris weaves like a ribbon through the story of her life. Katika Marton, known as Kati was born in Hungary before World War II. Her parents were each arrested at different times by the Nazi’s and finally were forced to flee their beloved Budapest with Kati. They fled to Paris and then to America. Years later Kati learns about her family’s Jewish connection and she shares this with us in this autobiography. Kati became a journalist, one of the pioneers of female journalism. She was a contemporary of Barbara Walters. She worked for a network news show and she was eventually placed in charge of the Berlin Bureau in the years after the war was over and the Berlin Wall cut Germany in two.

She fell in love with Peter Jennings and they had a private relationship for several years since they worked for the same news agency and Kati wanted to keep her career as a journalist. She was able to travel back to Hungary after the war and visit the city of her birth where she surprisingly felt quite at home even though she had been young when she left and had grown up elsewhere. She and Peter Jennings married and had two children Chris and Lizzie but Jennings was prone to fits of jealousy and possessiveness which made their relationship tough. Kati did not enjoy all this drama. She still wanted a life of the mind. She wanted to write and travel and interview people about events. Eventually they ended their marriage although they remained friends through their children. Kati and Peter’s romance played out against the romantic setting of Paris also. It was their retreat when they got a chance to be together.

Almost as soon as Kati and Peter were divorced Richard Holbrooke, the US Ambassador to Germany began to woo Kati. He told her that he had admired her for some time. Once again Paris became a backdrop to intimacy as these two learned to appreciate each other and to find their common ground. And so Holbrooke became Kati’s second husband and he took her to just about every tragic spot on the face of the earth. In those years when AIDs and groups of gangsters were terrorizing Africa they visited one sad African capital city after another and some wonderful cities also. But Kati’s sorrow was fully engaged by most of what she saw in Africa. She met Nelson Mandela in South Africa when he was just being released from prison and he became a lifelong friend of Kati and Richard. Her husband worked for the UN when he was no longer an ambassador and he held many other positions. The circles Kati and Richard moved in contained world leaders and Presidents.

When Holbrooke dies unexpectedly, after she has taught him to love Paris, and after they have purchased an apartment in Paris, Katie moves back to Paris and writes this memoir in the cafes she has come to love. Did she love Paris because she fell in love twice there, or did she fall in love with Paris because it was and is Paris? It doesn’t really matter. Paris is now her home. You can move in the same rarified spheres Kati Marton did for a while in the pages of this very brief and readable memoir, Paris: A Love Story.
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Dec 07, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Everyday by: Abigail Pollak

One woman, two men, three eras, and one magical city: a memoirist's dream! Onto this dazzling but well-trod stage strides the fearless Kati Marton, whose Paris: A Love Story is an exciting and elegant paean to the city that is ever at the heart of her high-pressure life as a successful public woman married to two very successful public men.

"Why did no one tell me that we have love on loan?" an inconsolable Marton cries, early in her memoir, as she mourns the sudden death of her adored second hus...more One woman, two men, three eras, and one magical city: a memoirist's dream! Onto this dazzling but well-trod stage strides the fearless Kati Marton, whose Paris: A Love Story is an exciting and elegant paean to the city that is ever at the heart of her high-pressure life as a successful public woman married to two very successful public men.

"Why did no one tell me that we have love on loan?" an inconsolable Marton cries, early in her memoir, as she mourns the sudden death of her adored second husband, the brilliant and indefatigable Richard Holbrooke, architect of the Dayton Peace Accords (which ended the war in Bosnia), and Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Marton is famous in her own right, of course -- an international human rights activist, an award-winning foreign correspondent for ABC News, and the author of seven acclaimed books. Still, adrift and devastated, she retreats once again to an apartment in her beloved Latin Quarter, where she resolves to reinvent her life.

Thus begins her immersion in memories both intimate and thrilling: her family's flight from Budapest in 1957 and their perilous journey to America, the sudden shocking discovery that her maternal grandparents were Jewish and had been murdered at Auschwitz, her youthful romance with the Latin Quarter where Marton studied at the Sorbonne, fell in love, witnessed the violent and exhilarating student uprisings of May 1968, discovered Montaigne, French cinema, and Parisian chic. She returns in 1978 as ABC's foreign correspondent and bureau chief, but this time to the Right Bank; she meets and marries the famous and dashing Peter Jennings, the father of her two children, and begins a fifteen-year love story, played out against the backdrop of world events, "a roller-coaster ride of passionate reunions and agonizing separations." Torn between her love for Jennings and her ambition to become a great journalist, Marton finally divorces him. Soon afterward, she meets the irrepressible Holbrooke, her great and lasting love. They marry in Budapest in 1995, just before the savage summer of Srebrenica and Holbrooke's posting to Sarajevo. Later, when Holbrooke is appointed Ambassador to the UN, they travel together throughout Asia and Africa where, as Marton puts it, "Richard talks to the torturers, I talk to the tortured." During this dramatic period, they retreat often to Paris, which comforts and renews them both.

It is in the final chapters, however, after Holbrooke's tragic death, that Marton gives us the heart of this moving memoir, an exquisite portrait of the city where "sorrow and pain are deemed part of life." This time, the city is hers alone, a magical place where she "no longer live(s) in a protected world of waiting cars and drivers, fixers, first-class travel, and smiling customs officials" but where, once again on the Left Bank, she rereads Proust, takes hot mint tea in the shaded garden of the Paris mosque, discovers the revelatory Musee Nissim de Camondo, and buys her first pair of dangerously high-heeled raspberry pumps. And it is in the cafes, those "fine places for people alone not to feel lonely," where she is once again able to write.

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Oct 10, 2012 Pinky rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-12

I kept thinking this was called Kati: Why Does Anyone Like Me? or Kati: Why Do Men Keep Falling at My Feet? Surrounding her adult life story with the various happy and interesting times spent in Paris was the only thing that kept me reading this book. I truly did enjoy reading about her time as a student at the Sorbonne and the many wonderful French meals she shared with her various lovers/husbands. But it was the uneven sharing of her relationships that turned me off. She was married young to s...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Jill Furedy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Reading other reviews of this, I don't think anyone quite knew what to expect from it. Some people wanted more details about Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke, others thought she was name dropping when she mentioned people her husbands interacted with. Some thought there wasn't enough personal story outside of the marriages, some said there wasn't enough Paris to carry the title. I thought she did a good job making Paris the center of the book...the stories all revolved around it, getting set...more Reading other reviews of this, I don't think anyone quite knew what to expect from it. Some people wanted more details about Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke, others thought she was name dropping when she mentioned people her husbands interacted with. Some thought there wasn't enough personal story outside of the marriages, some said there wasn't enough Paris to carry the title. I thought she did a good job making Paris the center of the book...the stories all revolved around it, getting settled there, drifting off and returning to it again. She idolized it in the beginning, then even when she ran into trouble there and left, still loved the city and made it her home. Even when it was part of her daily life, she still seemed awestruck about it at times.
As for her other loves, well the two marriages are the main portion of it, but she also has a few side affairs. I guess it's easier to commit to a city. Then again, she travels a lot. I thought her portrayal of Peter Jennings was interesting. You can see how someone who was commanding in front of the cameras might be less than accommodating in a personal setting too, so the ups and downs made sense. I wondered if she would have published that account were he still alive to tell his side though. Richard on the other hand, seems to be the ideal mate, which makes it frustrating that she cheats on him. I couldn't decide if I was relieved he forgave her so easily or if I was annoyed he let her off so easily. But there may have been more to the story there as well.
I didn't think her stories of the politicians she met through Richard seemed like name dropping at all. I thought it was interesting to see a more personal side of Hillary Clinton, the Bushes, and presidents of various Arab nations. I know they could have been acting diplomatically, but she seemed to believe in their sincerity, and I liked that since I tend to view politicians very cynically.
There were places where she seems too much time pondering historical events, to set up Paris's significance or something she learned while there. But for the most part it was a quick easy read, and I enjoyed it. There was nothing that made it really stand out to me, or anything that would make me recommend it to anyone as something they had to read. There was some emotion there, but I think there were also more moments she could have focused on to give the book more palpable impact. But since I didn't know much about the book going in and didn't have any expectations, even as I was not overly impressed, I wasn't ever disappointed either.(less)

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Aug 16, 2012 Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had very little idea who this person was. The title caught my eye, and loving all things Paris I grabbed it. Divorced from Peter Jennings and widow of Richard Holbrooke, this is her memoir. An accomplished reporter and writer in her own right, this details her personal relationships with her lovers, husbands, children, family and chronicles her news and writing careers. What a piece of work this chick is! But I would love to know her. Wouldn't want to be married to her. If you are looking for...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Dani added it

This book was given to me by my mother-in-law, so you don't think I go looking for this mushy type of thing. Just kidding! (not about the mother-in-law part) The author and I both have roots in Hungary. Some things we don't have in common are she's been to Paris, a lot, married Peter Jennings, then a very important American diplomat (not that she's a bigamist) and... well I'm still reading it. It's a rag leaf binding (I think that's what you call it) which I find classy.

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Aug 25, 2012 Frances Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Kati Marton writes about Paris and her love for both Paris and the man she meets in Paris...diplomat/negotiator/future husband Richard Holbrooke. Their's is an exciting, fullfilling life cut short by Holbrooke's death a year ago last Christmas. This is not a sad story but an inspiring tale of loss, resiliency, and the next chapter of life. It also makes you fall in love with Paris if you weren't already in love with Paris.

Marton is Hungarian. Her parents survive the Nazis,only to be imprisoned b...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Leigh rated it 3 of 5 stars

[NOTE to readers of this review: If you would like a copy of this book let me know and I'll mail it to you.]

Kati Marton's drive was inspired by her parents, two Hungarian journalists who had been pressured first by Nazis and then by communists in World War II, eventually ending up in jail. Her search to get to the bottom of world events to find the truth took her to Paris multiple times - as a student in the Latin Quarter in 1968, and then to become a foreign correspondent for ABC in the glory d...more [NOTE to readers of this review: If you would like a copy of this book let me know and I'll mail it to you.]

Kati Marton's drive was inspired by her parents, two Hungarian journalists who had been pressured first by Nazis and then by communists in World War II, eventually ending up in jail. Her search to get to the bottom of world events to find the truth took her to Paris multiple times - as a student in the Latin Quarter in 1968, and then to become a foreign correspondent for ABC in the glory days of Roone Arledge, and then an author of seven books. No sooner does she have her first overseas assignment but she would fall hard in love for her office mate to become her first husband, Peter Jennings. She takes us into her marriage with one of the world's most recognizable men - with an ego and ambition to match her own, as well as surprisingly deep insecurities, of which infidelities and divorce followed and she would leave him. Paris would be her memory, as well as her family hearth to spend Christmases there. Over a Christmas in the midst of her separation she promptly enters the waiting car of diplomat Richard Holbrooke, and finds herself in the immediacy of some of the world's most intractable problems, most trusted and broad-thinking minds, as well as first-class travel, rarified environments, Parisian shopping / restaurants (their favorite: le Coupe Chou http://www.lecoupechou.com/ ) power circles - and a husband who might be flying to Kabul at a moment's notice. After his untimely passing, she returns to Paris to begin the next phase of her life - noticing more of the small ornate details, living with immediacy, the "joy of remembered joy" and hopefully no more regrets. Of which there are a few in this book. One poignant observation of Marton's: it isn't the grand events, the milestones of life, the Paris trips so much that can be so special and missed - but the routines, the small gestures, the modus vivendi of a life together in love. An affirmation to live fully on all scales large and small each day. (less)

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Oct 12, 2012 Virlys rated it 3 of 5 stars

This autobiography was a good read. Kati Marton, who fled her homeland, Hungary with her journalist parents, went on to live a globe trotting life as a journalist and author herself. She fell in love with the well known (well, really superstar) journalist, Peter Jennings to whom she was married for 15 years and had two children. When her often tumultuous marriage ended, she was courted by and then married diplomat Richard Holbrooke with whom she spent some of her most satisfying years until his...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Elena rated it 4 of 5 stars

"I hope that my readers will also draw comfort from the fact that there are other lives beyond the one that one loses." ~ Kati Marton, NPR interview

"Paris: A Love Story" was a book that was interesting to me because there was a great deal about Paris in it. While there is little about the historical Paris there is plenty about restaurants, cafés, hotels, parks, shops and glamorous condos, in as much as they have played a part in the life of journalist, author and socialite Kati Marton. I had n...more "I hope that my readers will also draw comfort from the fact that there are other lives beyond the one that one loses." ~ Kati Marton, NPR interview

"Paris: A Love Story" was a book that was interesting to me because there was a great deal about Paris in it. While there is little about the historical Paris there is plenty about restaurants, cafés, hotels, parks, shops and glamorous condos, in as much as they have played a part in the life of journalist, author and socialite Kati Marton. I had not heard of Kati before; she is the former wife of the late ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings. The memoir has much about their stormy affair, as well as Kati's other affairs and the tragedy of an abortion, amid the excuses and regrets of an ex-Catholic trying not to have any "Catholic guilt". While separated from Peter, Kati began her relationship with diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who in time became her third husband. The backdrops of Paris and other exotic places give a hopeful romantic glimmer to happenings which in small-town America would be just plain tawdry. Also, the frequent mention of Hilary Clinton and other left-wing luminaries reminds the readers that they are reading about very important people, although not necessarily people I would personally enjoy sipping wine with on the Champs Élysées. However, I must say Ambassador Holbrooke (God rest him) comes across as warm and charming and Kati's dinner parties sound like fun.

According to NPR:

"Kati Marton's new book is called Paris: A Love Story — but it's really more of a book about love and loss than one about the City of Light.

Marton, formerly a correspondent for ABC News and NPR, has written about her remarkable parents, who were Holocaust survivors and reporters in Hungary, and came to the United States after the uprising in Budapest. And she's tried to solve the mysteries around what happened to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who risked his life to rescue Jews during World War II; and George Polk, the American journalist who was killed covering a civil war in Greece.

Yet Marton's name has also appeared in columns over the years because she was married to Peter Jennings, the late ABC News anchor, for almost 15 years; their occasional trials, strayings and separations became items. Jennings died in 2005; by then Marton was married to diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Their 15-year marriage ended with his death in 2010.

Many of her happiest and most vexing moments were spent with those men in Paris — and Marton tells NPR's Scott Simon that writing her new memoir was a kind of healing experience."

Other than helping me conjure up images of what it is like to be in Paris while independently wealthy, I enjoyed reading about Kati's exciting years as a foreign correspondent. Her fluency in French and other languages opened many doors for her, thanks to her Hungarian parents, once political prisoners of the Communist regime. As dissident intellectuals, they provided her with an excellent education. Many fascinating geopolitical happenings of the past three or four decades are resurrected in the memory by Paris: A Love Story. The unique point of view offered on those world events alone makes the book worthwhile. (less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Jackie Lane rated it 3 of 5 stars

The cover of this book caught my eye.

I had never heard of Kati Marton or her story, but decided to read it. I found that there were parts I was very interested in and parts that tended to drag for me, leaving my mind wandering.

It is the story of a Hungarian girl who becomes a journalist. She is married 3 times and twice to famouns people, Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke.

The book was well written and the things I found intriguing were her relationship with Peter Jennings and almost everythin...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

I don't know why I was eh on this book (2.5 more than 3.0 stars). Well written memoir by Kati Marton, former NBC correspondent, former wife of Peter Jennings and widow of diplomat Richard Holbrooke, set against the backdrop of Paris and, to a lesser extent, her native Hungary. She led an interesting life and I feel like I should have enjoyed this memoir more than I did. Partially b/c I know my knowledge of history is lacking, but it was partially the style of writing, which was a little meanderi...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Patty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kati Marton uses a straight-forward journalist's style to describe her eventful life using Paris as its core, since so much that has been significant to her life happened there. But before Paris there was Budapest, where Marton was born and where her journalist parents were imprisoned by the Soviets in the 50s, separating them from their children for over a year. The family relocated to America but the multi-lingual Kati returned to Europe to study. She landed in Paris during the student uprisin...more Kati Marton uses a straight-forward journalist's style to describe her eventful life using Paris as its core, since so much that has been significant to her life happened there. But before Paris there was Budapest, where Marton was born and where her journalist parents were imprisoned by the Soviets in the 50s, separating them from their children for over a year. The family relocated to America but the multi-lingual Kati returned to Europe to study. She landed in Paris during the student uprising and the city was frequently a backdrop to her stint as a foreign correspondent for ABC News during which she promptly fell in love with the network's rising star, Peter Jennings. The tumultuous couple eventually married, moved to London and raised two children, but Kati chafed at domesticity (although she was still writing books). She and Jennings eventually split and when he joined her, their children and some of her family on a Christmas ski vacation she couldn't stand the tension and left—virtually into the arms of Richard Holbrooke, then a key foreign affairs negotiator with the Clinton administration. Within days, it seems, Marton is in love again with a man who is frequently absent but who appears to treasure her (yet she still has an affair during their marriage, as she did with Jennings). Her life now involves presidents, world leaders, and travel throughout the world. She becomes a hostess to luminaries in Washington and then, tragically, Holbrooke dies suddenly. In her grief, she returns to Paris where they once lived. Her children now join her there each year for visits. Marton's recollections are an interesting read and a glimpse into the time when networks were willing to spend money to cover the news throughout the world and into the sleep deprived world of peace negotiators and the toll it takes on their families. Interestingly, much of Marton's material comes from saved letters (a treasure trove came from her parents who kept all her letters to Jennings, many written on planes). Future writers will not have the benefit of a similar archive—unless they save all their emails.(less)

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Mar 08, 2013 Don Weidinger rated it 4 of 5 stars

it is astonishing how fast a beautiful city can be destroyed, no kill Germany depressed with abortion and never again, K no life in eyes recoiled at touch angry old man, grandparents killed as jews parents denied, Mangel to Marton, no sense giving a big head with too much praise insecure with no formal degree jealousy and insecurity, irreverence and drive, found another man in 10 unloyal shoved affair in face, Dick goes thru many women and mediates family conferences affair again disagree and id...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Kristie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book in its entirety on a flight from SF to NYC. While the author's voice slightly irritated me, I found the book compelling. It is always interesting to get a peek into the lives of others and this woman has led a fascinating life of both privilege and danger. Married to both Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke, Kati Marton seems to be a quite exceptional woman. Probably in an effort to protect her children and the memories of her two husbands, she was decidedly circumspect about d...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Linda rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: political junkies

I won this memoir on Goodreads. I entered the drawing based upon the statements made that the book was for anyone who loves Paris, or has fallen in love in Paris. Like other readers I was not familiar with Ms. Marton, but after reading the book, I feel like I SHOULD have known her and should have known her husbands and their fabulous contributions to life as we know it. I will agree that Peter Jennings was a great news man (but apparently not such a great man), and that Richard Holbrooke did mak...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kati Marton is the ex-wife of Peter Jennings and the widow of Richard Holbrooke. In addition, she is a Hungarian refugee, speaks four languages, was an ABC foreign correspondant and is now an acomplished author and public speaker. This paean to her second husband, and love of her life, Richard Holbrooke, uses her favorite place on earth, Paris, as the pivotal point for her major life choices. All of her accomplishments, her international lifestyle and famous friends could have had the effect of...more

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title link	preview: Paris: A Love Story
avg rating	preview: Paris: A Love Story Goodreads rating: 3.26 (974 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13546619-paris?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337698859l/13546619.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13546619-paris?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton[/url]

Paris: A Love Story

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